The disclosed aspects relate generally to communications between and/or within devices and specifically to methods and systems for improving device activation among a plurality of near field communication (NFC) type-A radio frequency (RF) technology listening devices.
Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful personal computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and paging devices that are each small, lightweight, and can be easily carried by users. More specifically, the portable wireless telephones, for example, further include cellular telephones that communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Many such cellular telephones are being manufactured with relatively large increases in computing capabilities, and as such, are becoming tantamount to small personal computers and hand-held PDAs. Further, such devices are being manufactured to enable communications using a variety of frequencies and applicable coverage areas, such as cellular communications, wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, NFC, etc.
NFC enabled devices may operation in a polling mode and/or a listening mode. The NFC Forum Activity specification defines a number of processes including one for Device Activation of a Remote NFC-A Device identified as part of earlier processes (e.g. Collision Resolution). As written in version 1.0 of the specification, Collision Resolution results in a possible situation in which one of the decided remote NFC devices may not be subsequently activated unless the polling NFC device restarting the entire technology discovery process. There are situations in which a polling device may attempt to communicate with each detected remote NFC device in turn. In these situations, each remote NFC device needs to be activated, data may then be exchanged with the activated remote NFC device, and then the activated remote NFDC device may be deactivated. Currently, when a polling NFC device first activates anything but the last device resolved, this last device becomes unavailable for later activation. This unavailability results from the Specification requirement that when a remote NFC device that is in an active sub-state receives an ALL_REQ message that remote NFC device is required to switch to an IDLE sub-state. The only way the polling NFC device may subsequently interact with the now idle remote NFC device is to perform all the steps of technology detection, and collision resolution.
Thus, improved apparatus and methods for providing a mechanism to improve device activation among a plurality of NFC type-A RF technology listening devices may be desired.